1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new pump and pumping system and more particularly to an improved pump and pumping system for metering accurately controlled amounts of material to be pumped and wherein the amount of material pumped may be varied within known controlled amounts.
2. Background of the Invention
In chemical procedures qualitative or quantitative analysis or assays, it is frequently desirable to be able to pump reagents, in known amounts, by an automatic system. Typical such procedures include titration, radioimmunoassay procedures and the like.
In the medical field, it is sometimes necessary to pump fluids at known amounts, and often in variable quantities from one patient to another. For example in I.V. feeding of various liquids it may be necessary to control the rate from a fraction of a milliliter per minute to about 10 milliliters per minute or more. Other types of equipment also require pumps of known, controlled capacity, e.g., heart-lung machines, automatic blood assay equipment, and the like.
Many types of analytical equipment are now produced in which various reagents and samples are pumped at varying, but known, rates for the purpose of accurate analysis, for example, amino acid analysis, blood analysis equipment, and the like. One such automatic analysis system is the automatic radioimmunoassay equipment disclosed in United States Application Ser. No. 565,580, filed Apr. 7, 1975, and assigned to the same assignee. In this system, there are several pumps which operate in sequence to pump reagents and reactants at known rates, which rates may be variable depending on the type of assay.